Soybean prices seem likely to vacillate between news on crop conditions and more robust demand prospects over the near term. USDA’s Crop Production report, due out August 12, holds the potential to be an inflection point if the 2020 soybean crop comes in at levels anticipated by crop conditions. The prospect of an above-trend soybean […]
The following is a condensed version of an AEI Premium article published in early July. Not a subscriber yet? You can access the full story – and much more – by starting a free trial here. There’s been a lot of chatter about the pace of corn and soybean export sales activity for the 2020/21 marketing […]
Bloomberg writers Elizabeth Rembert and Michael Hirtzer reported last week that, “China took another step toward meeting agricultural commitments made in the phase one trade agreement with the U.S. with its biggest-ever purchase of American corn. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that exporters sold 1.937 million metric tons of corn, the third-largest deal for the grain to any destination. This purchase tops the previous record sale […]
The following is a condensed version of an AEI Premium article, which included a look at soybeans. Not a subscriber yet? You can access the full story – and much more – by starting a free trial here. The drought monitor maps have been everywhere this year. Flipping through, we can conclude conditions in mid-July are worse than […]
Last week, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) released its “2019 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook,” that provided “a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world and the United States’ primary trading partners.” With respect to China, the update indicated that, “In 2019, U.S. agricultural exports to China totaled $13.8 billion, up from $9.1 billion in […]
Soybean yield forecasts contained in May, June, and July WASDE reports from the USDA provide important information to market participants. The forecasts are based on a crop weather model developed and maintained by the World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB). In a recent farmdoc daily article (July 9, 2020), we described the WAOB crop weather model for soybeans […]
Stronger export numbers and lower acreage boosted corn prices since the end of June. Concerns about demand weakness in ethanol production emerged recently. A recovery in economic activity helped ethanol plants ramp up production as gasoline demand increased. A resurgence in virus incidences threatens ethanol production over the short run and injects uncertainty into long-run […]
Wet and warm conditions over some key soybean growing regions pressured soybean prices recently. The prospect of a good soybean crop places added emphasis on demand over the next year. Soybean consumption in 2020-21 shows a substantial increase driven mostly by expanded exports in the recent WASDE report. A robust recovery in domestic and world […]
Josh Zumbrun and Catherine Lucey reported on the front page of Saturday’s Wall Street Journal that, “President Trump damped expectations for a promised phase-two trade pact with China on Friday, saying the relationship between the countries has been too badly damaged by the coronavirus pandemic. “‘I don’t think about it now,’ Mr. Trump told reporters aboard […]
The Acreage and Grain Stocks reports, released on June 30,produced some surprises for the corn market. The drop in acreage spurred a rally in corn prices and injected some optimism into the corn outlook moving into the 2020 marketing year. The market turns to weather forecasts and the upcoming WASDE report for price formation over the short term. Corn […]